CD Project looks back at 2023:

CD PROJEKT looks back at 2023

• Solid revenues and net profit driven by strong sales of Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty expansion
• CD PROJEKT carries on with dynamic development, with a new dev team in Boston tasked with work on a new game set in the Cyberpunk universe
• The Management Board of the Company has recommended allocating nearly 100 million PLN toward a dividend 

CD PROJEKT posted strong results for 2023. Consolidated sales revenues topped 1 230 million PLN, with a net profit of 481 million PLN. This represents an improvement by 29% and 39% respectively, compared to the reference period. 2023 was the second best year in the entire history of the CD PROJEKT Group. The Group’s net profitability in 2023 was 39%.

– Update 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 were released in September and met with enthusiastic reception on the part of gamers and gaming media alike. This resulted in strong sales of both titles. In just over three years our cumulative revenues from sales of games which comprise the Cyberpunk franchise exceeded 3 billion PLN, further attesting to the strength of this IP – remarks Piotr Nielubowicz, CFO of CD PROJEKT – The success of Phantom Liberty and reinvigoration of positive sentiment surrounding the base game are crucial for further growth of CD PROJEKT, which is rooted in building strong, widely recognized brands.

The Studio’s new Boston-based team, founded by persons responsible for the success of Phantom Liberty, began operating in late 2023. This team will be tasked with development of Project Orion – another large game set in the Cyberpunk universe, currently in the conceptual phase.

– We intend to work on multiple projects in the framework of our franchises – including projects which go beyond the video game field. In the case of Cyberpunk the next challenge, following on the heels of the excellent reception of the Cyberpunk: EDGERUNNERS anime series, will be a live-action project developed in collaboration with the renowned Anonymous Content production studio – says Michał Nowakowski, Joint CEO of CD PROJEKT.

The achieved earnings bolster the financial resources of the CD PROJEKT Group. Despite having invested nearly 273 million PLN on development of new projects and paying out nearly 100 million PLN in a dividend, by the end of 2023 the value of the Group’s financial reserves – cash, bank deposits and T-bonds – grew to over 1.3 billion PLN. Secure financial status enables us to focus on development work. Polaris – the first instalment of the new Witcher trilogy – is currently the furthest along in development, with over 400 people involved in the project.

Thanks Couchpotato!

Noclip's second part of his documentary on CD Projekt focuses on the story behind The Witcher 1 & 2. The third part focuses on designing The Witcher 3.

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We continue the story of CD Projekt by talking to the people who designed, produced and played the first two games in the franchise.

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Ever wondered how CD Projekt created the world of The Witcher 3? We talk to people from environmental design, level design and open world design about how they collaborated to make the world of Wild Hunt.

Noclip presents the story of CD Projekt. This is part 1 of 6.

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In the opening episode of our six-part series on The Witcher, we talk to Marcin Iwiński about life in socialist Poland, the business of games distribution and the founding of CD Projekt.

It seems the Polish stock exchange supervision is not amused about the way CD Projekt communicated The Witcher 3's sales success, because their share price suddenly jumped 26%. If they really forgot to make a correct investors filing before releasing infos to the press, they could be in for an expensive lesson.

Big Gaming posted a detailed article, PCGames.de has a chart.

Rock Paper Shotgun chatted with CD Project CEO Marcin Iwinski about The Witcher, parallels with Game of Thrones and how sex fits the picture.

RPS: Finally, the moment everyone’s been waiting for: let’s talk about Game of Thrones. You’re a big fan, and there are some obvious parallels between the way Witcher and Game of Thrones operate. Aside from the obvious ones – dark fantasy settings, a love of killing kings, etc – there’s the dreaded art of sexposition.

Iwinski: But it makes sense. Both in the show and in our game.

RPS: Some pundits say Game of Thrones uses it as a crutch, though. People talk a bunch, so they use it to keep eyes on the screen. 

Iwinski: I totally disagree with that, but I have a story [laughs]. We were showing Witcher 1 for the first time… and I think it goes back to a different cultural perception of sex. In the US, it’s pretty much a no-go zone. It explains, for example, why you have a very thriving porn industry – which is a bit of a contradiction [laughs]. But, you know, business is business, one could say.

Back home [in Poland], though, it’s just a normal part of life. So with the famous – or infamous, you could say – sex cards, European journalists were like “Oh, cool.” And then we showed Witcher 1 to people in the US, and they were like [gasps in an impressively high pitch]. A lot of the key magazines treated the whole thing as a big feature, and they were writing how our programmer was excited about the sex cards in the game.

So there are different views on these things. But, for me, I read George R. R. Martin’s books after one of the journalists left our presentation of Witcher 1 and told me “Wow, it’s a bit like Game of Thrones!” So I went out and bought the books and read them straight [through]. And in the books, I think there’s even more sex and nudity than there is in the TV series. Is it problematic in the books? For me, it’s not. It just makes sense. It’s power, politics, and sex. It is how we are – how we humans behave. It’s all about power, money, and sex. Come on, look at [E3]. Look at the booth babes.

Thanks Jonathan.

CD Projekt has kicked up a summary from their recent Investor's Day - two new games are due in 2014 and 2015 but not everyone will be excited to hear about their multiplatform plans:

Investor’s Day is wrapping up as we speak, but we’ve already prepared a short summary of everything that you need to know about CD Projekt RED’s plans for the next four years.

-The Witcher 2 for Xbox 360 is scheduled for release in Q1 of 2012
-All future, major releases will be multi-platform (at least two platforms)
-RED Studio will be working on two different AAA+ projects simultaneously
-Next, two big games are coming out respectively in 2014 and 2015
-There will be two other releases in the meantime
-Studio will continue to develop and work on its own technology called REDengine
-CDR will continue making games for mature audience with complex, non-linear story 

Tomasz Gop has told Eurogamer a new Witcher game will be unveiled at E3. While he wasn't being specific, it seems pretty likely it's a console version of The Witcher 2:

A new Witcher game will be announced at E3 next month, developer CD Projekt has told Eurogamer.

Could it possibly be the mooted console version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings? Senior producer Tomasz Gop wasn't giving much away, but did hint that CD Projekt might have good news for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 users.

"I can't say anything obviously for gazillions of reasons but it is a Witcher game, and I can say that console gamers might be interested in it," he explained.

According to Eurogamer CD Projekt is taking a harder stance on pirates. They're signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies to go after anyone who downloads The Witcher 2 illegally. They say that people who download it illegally can expect a letter from a legal firm and not just some warning letter telling the pirates to stop, but imposing a fine right away. You can read the whole article here:

"Of course we're not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies," CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski said. "In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, 'Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine.' We are totally fair, but if you decide you will not buy it legally there is a chance you'll get a letter. We are talking about it right now."

 

"I'm sure you've heard about stories in the US when recording companies were chasing people. We don't want to be so harsh, but there is a chance that this might happen to some people if they download illegally. There will be an initiative."

Source: Neoseeker

Thanks to Chautemoc for bringing this to my attention.

According to Gamasutra, CD Projekt co-founders Michal Kicinski and Marcin Iwinski have resigned - apparently to "rest", which sounds odd from my position.  Here's a snip:

Developer and publisher CD Projekt revealed that its CEO Michal Kicinski and business development director Marcin Iwinski, both co-founders of the Polish studio, are resigning from their positions.

Iwinski and Kicinski founded CD Projekt in 1994, and it has published many PC titles since, such as the acclaimed The Witcher series. The Warsaw-based company also owns and runs digital distribution platform Good Old Games.

The two executives apparently want to step away from managing the company to rest after assisting with a "share swap" between its holding company CDP Investment and Polish PC company Optimus last year -- a deal valued at 63 million zloty, or $22 million.

CD Project has relaunched The Witcher's official website. They have done this in order to prepare for the official website for the release of Witcher 2: The Assasination of Kings.
Wen you go to the relaunched website, if you click on the 'game' button in the menu band at the top of the site, you'll be taken to a site where you can see screenshots, wallpapers and concept art. You can also learn about some of the characters by clicking on the 'characters' icon, also found in the top menu band. Here's the part about Zoltan:

 Zoltan Chivay is among the few who can consider themselves Geralt’s close friend. They met years ago and very much by accident, when Geralt, pursuing his destiny, was seeking Ciri, and Zoltan was looking for a fight and a chance to get rich. Amidst the turmoil of war, they saved each other’s skins many times, which transformed their chance acquaintance into a friendship that endures to this day. In breaks between bloody melees, Zoltan strives to cultivate beautiful dwarven traditions that include picking fights in taverns, losing his coin at cards, or getting drunk as if there was no tomorrow. Invariably curious about the world, Geralt has often joined in these rituals, usually regretting this the following morning, when a hangover obliterated any doubts as to what had happened the night before. Despite all, Geralt values Zoltan’s friendship as well as the edge of dwarf’s battleaxe, mindful that it is always better to wake up with a splitting headache than to wake with no head at all.

Rampant Coyote reports on a secret message from CDprojekt to the fans. It's on a single frame at the end of the trailer for The Witcher 2:

This message is for our biggest fans. Analyzing our stuff pixel by pixel, bit by bit. It's good to see you again! :-) BTW: Simple minded people think that nobody is reading those days, dear reader of this, we think that we can agree that it is bullshit, huh? Same as the fact that single player RPGs are dead, or PCs?

We sold 1.5 mln units game from dying genre on dying platform - so we somehow cannot agree;-)

Before we start talking about TW2:) please let us thank you for your great support and appreciation. It always motivate us and make us happy.

We started working on TW2 right after release of TW. Our goal was to create all the things which made TW so great in TW2 even better. We are very proud of TW but let be honest it was our debut. We never made any game before, and we practically learnt as we worked. So there were many things which could be done better, you know it as good as we :-)

But the vision, the main concept remain the same: game with mature, captivating and unlinear story, and full of spectacular combat. A game created by a team of independent thinkers immune to corporate priorities, who don't care what's trendy at a given moment.

The core vision of the game hasn't changed. What has changed is the quality and the maturity we can deliver. That's largely because, we're more experienced and also due the fact that, we've created our own technology.

Do you remember how we made significant improvements with the Aurora Engine in the original game, but it still had its limitations? Now we've created technology designed specifically to create non-linear games with extensive plotlines and a living world... well, there's no point in expanding on that too much - you have to check our tech yourselves!

Nevertheless, we have many reasons to believe that you will like The Witcher 2!

See you soon and stay tuned :)

Thanks, Rampant. This made my day.

Big Download posts an extended Q & A with CD Projekt's co-founder Marcin Iwinski, covering their progress with Good Old Games and future plans for the site, as well as asking a few questions about current games in production and out,  including  The Witcher 2.

Here's a sample of the GOG discussion:

 Are there still some publishers and developers who have not yet embraced GoG.com's philosophy and if so how hard will it be to turn them around to GoG.com's thinking?

It was really hard at the beginning, as a lot of people were not getting the idea. "Why no DRM? What if people copy our games?" they were asking. I think this was the toughest element to convince our partners about, but we've managed, and once we introduce key partners like Ubisoft or Activision, it gets a lot easier. Also the fact, that our business model works and there is revenue behind older games is really important, as at the end of the day if we weren't performing on the sales side, nobody would want to sell their games through GOG.

And on The Witcher 2:

What's the current status of The Witcher 2 and its search for a publisher?

Witcher 2? Hmmm .... Are we working on such game? ;) Hehehe ... It wasn't officially announced, but as the leaked video on YouTube was seen by over 600k people, I can't even pretend it's a secret. The production is going really well and we should have quite a few important announcements this March. We are preparing a proper launch backed up with a lot of materials and we should be able to talk about our publishing partners, as well. The game should be absolutely amazing.

Apparently CD Projekt organised a conference to detail their merger with Optimus.  Ausir attended for Polygamia and sends word of this summary.  Here's a snip to whet your appetite:

• According to CD Projekt, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is to be a "breakthrough RPG like Fallout 3" that should get over 90% score at Metacritic
• The Witcher 2 development team currently consists of ca. 80 people, both from CD Projekt Red and from Metropolis Software, whose FPS titled They is currently "on hold"
• The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf, the console port of the first game, is not canceled but suspended, and will likely be made after all. This time with the use of CD Projekt's own technology, not an engine outsourced from a third party. However, it might not happen until after the second game is finished.
•  The Witcher 2 uses CD Projekt's internal, multi-platform engine, which is focused not only on the renderer and physics, but on non-linear quest design. CD Projekt founders believe that it will be in the vanguard among game engines, and especially RPG engines.

GameBanshee writes they have learned through an industry contact that CD Projekt has shut down the studio Metropolis that they acquired in early 2008.  Metropolis was working on the FPS They and so this is only of minor interest to us at this time.  Still, turbulent times at CD Projekt.  Read the full story at GameBanshee.

Gamesindustry reports that Optimus has successfully aquired CDP Investment. CDP Investment is the holding company for CD Projekt, GoG, CDP Publishing, CDP Red, Metro and Porting House.

It was reported earlier from Polygamia that this was a back-door way for CD Projeckt to enter the share market. The owners of CDP Investment will retain control of the CD Projekt Group, while acquiring 50 percent of the listed company's shares. Michał Kiciński had this to say about the merger:

"Above all, we will become a publicly listed company, which denotes access to capital. That in turn will spur further company growth. The immediate financing we obtained through the deal will allow us to pursue our operational goals in troubled times."

"We have gained all this while retaining control of the business, which was essential to us. The added spice of the contract is that we are merging with a corporation that, like CD Projekt, has been at the center of the Polish computer market throughout its history,” added Kiciński.

Polish site Polygamia has two news pieces about the acquisition of CD Projekt by Polish computer hardware company Optimus SA.  As it turns out, Optimus is nearly defunct and the principals of CD Projekt will ultimately own half of the bigger Optimus, so this a back-door way to enter the share market and raise capital without going through a more complex public float.  You can read the original article here and an update here but this quote from CD Projekt co-founder Michał Kiciński is probably all most of us need to know:

We have tried to find a way of entering the stock market for several months, in order to develop further and to more easily acquire capital for producing games, without being at the mercy of Western publishers.

Thanks Ausir and Gorath.

Another day, another game added to the Good Old Games catalogue; today it's Arx Fatalis, the 2002 first person action rpg from Arkane Studios(Dark Messiah of Might & Magic). Here's a description of the game from wikipedia:

The design of Arx Fatalis was heavily influenced by games from the now-defunct Looking Glass Studios, especially Ultima Underworld. Arkane Studios have stated that Arx Fatalis was intended to be Ultima Underworld III, however they could not obtain a license for the UW name...

...One of the innovations in Arx Fatalis is the spellcasting system. Using the mouse and the Ctrl key, runes are drawn in mid-air with mouse gestures, which must be correctly drawn, in order to successfully cast a spell. The player can find or buy different runes as gameplay progresses, combinations of which unlock new spells.

Good Old Games is having a promotional sale, with a free $5.99 game for every two full price games($9.99.) The freebie titles include Battle Chess, Freespace, Fallout and Fallout 2, Lionheart, Evolva and the like. You can read up on it here.

BluesNews notes that Good Old Games has added Sacred:Gold and Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games  to their lineup of offerings:

GOG.com, the online Good Old Games marketplace, announces two new additions to their roster of DRM-free games updated to run on modern systems. The new old games (huh?) they have just added are Sacred Gold, the upgraded edition of this hack-and-slash action/RPG, and Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games, a continuation of the turn-based combat of the original Jagged Alliance.

Other titles available include Gothic as well as the fantasy/tb strategy classic Disciples:Sacred Lands Gold. You can check it all out at GOG.com.

CD Projekt sends word that Good Old Games is in Open Beta, which basically means it's all systems go.  They've also added two new companies to the games available - Pluto 13 (Piranha Bytes) and Strategy First, which means some cool games coming like the original Gothic (seriously - a must-have if don't already have it) and Jagged Alliance.  Here's the full PR:

GOG.com Open Beta Embarks; New Companies Climb Aboard

Everyone Now Able to Buy Value-Packed and DRM-Free Classic PC Games

Warsaw, Poland – October 23, 2008. GOG.com, or Good Old Games, the digital distribution site with DRM-free PC classics, today opened its doors to the public as it moved into its Open Beta phase after a highly successful Early Access Beta that saw tens of thousands of gamers satisfy their deepest desires… for classic PC games, you sicko! Additionally, GOG.com announced that two new companies have taken up arms in the battle to bring classic PC games at low prices to the masses. The award-winning worldwide publisher, Strategy First, is bringing hit titles Sacred Gold, Jagged Alliance, Disciples Gold and more to GOG.com, while a deal with Pluto 13 means that classic-games fans will have the opportunity to play Piranha Bytes' acclaimed RPG, Gothic.

With Strategy First and Pluto 13 joining Codemasters and Interplay, the GOG.com Open Beta will expand in the coming weeks to offer more than 50 games from the 90s and 2000s, all optimized to work on modern PCs and packed with bonus content. Also, the games are inexpensive, leading to a minimal impact on international credit markets; GOG.com is doing its part to crush the current economic recession.

“We’re elated to welcome these new companies to the GOG.com catalogue. It’s a great demonstration of their commitment to gamers, and we’re sure that our extremely devoted community will welcome Strategy First with open arms, and will have a great time revisiting the immersive world of Gothic as the Open Beta begins,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “The success of the Early Access Beta showed us that there is huge demand for DRM-free classic PC games, and it helped us to prepare the site for the public launch. We are endlessly grateful to the users for their support and assistance.”

Strategy First games will begin appearing in the GOG.com games catalogue with the release of Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold Edition on October 28, the same day that will see the launch of Piranha Bytes’ Gothic. More titles, as well as announcements of additional publishers, will follow in the coming weeks. Go to GOG.com and dive right into the world of classic PC gaming.

Thanks also to stealth for a similar submission.

Thomas 'Brother None' Beekers has filed a preview of CD Projekt's Good Old Games site for GameBanshee:

This approach is obviously more hands-off than Steam; once you purchase a Steam game you're tied to Steam forever, like it or not. Instead, GOG gives you a single executable file – the Good Old Games install file for the game – which you can just save on a back-up disc or burn to a CD to install the game as many times as you like. The GOG installer is part of CD Projekt's commitment to keeping the games working on modern systems, as the new installer should work on all modern computers whereas some of the games’ original installation routines would give quite a headache previously. The site is easy to navigate, purchasing games is just as easy, and you download the executable as a normal file via your browser at very decent speeds (1 MB/s or more).

It seems my key got lot in the mail but Dan writes in to say the Good Old Games open beta in underway as promised.  Here's the latest from the site:

New games hit the catalogue during the Early Access Beta. The Early Access Beta launched on Monday, the first few thousand users have received their access codes, the first games have been bought, and the first new releases have appeared in GOG.com's games catalogue. Two great RTS games were just added to the ever-growing catalogue - Perimeter from Codemasters and Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising from Interplay. Early Access Beta users can buy these games now, but you don't have to worry. We still have some surprises up our sleeves (yes, there are multiple sleeves at work here). Just enter your email above – we’re still accepting signups! Our kindness won’t last forever, so enter your email address already, would you?

CD Projekt's Good Old Games is going to open the doors early to those who have signed on, and a bonus Interplay game is on offer to anyone who buys a game during this Early Access Beta period:

Early Access to GOG.com Causes Widespread Riots

Old-School Gamers Erupt in Joy as DRM-Free Classic Games Site Opens the Door to Thousands

Warsaw, Poland – September 3, 2008. GOG.com or Good Old Games, the new games-on-demand platform offering all-time PC classics, is turning a new leaf, entering a new chapter, going where no site has gone before, doing… something newsworthy. From Monday, September 8, onward, the closed press beta will come to an end and the Early Access Beta will begin. Anyone who has signed up at www.gog.com will receive an access key during the next week, granting them access to the ever-growing catalogue of tantalizing classic games at GOG.com. 

While a closed beta was planned for August, the incredible reaction from gaming media and gamers themselves to the GOG.com announcement exceeded the wildest expectations of the team. Instead of offering just a small group of gamers access, the team decided to open the doors to everyone who signed up. “We want to reward everyone who showed us support, and thus decided to give everyone access to the beta site. Of course this meant we had to add all sorts of finishing touches to the site and test the new payment system, which caused a small delay. We used that extra time well and now we can provide players with the best GOG.com experience possible… until, you know, we make it even better,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com.

During the Early Access Beta stage GOG.com will offer all the main features of the site, including buying DRM-free good old games. “We have prepared about 30 acclaimed titles from Interplay and Codemasters at this stage, but we'll add more every week. Aside from buying games, all users will be able to join the community, add comments, write reviews and download additional materials for the games they bought. It’s a beta that works just like the final site will,” said Oldakowski.

To further reward early adopters, the GOG.com Team has created a special limited-time promotion for anyone granted early access. Everyone who buys a game during the Early Access Beta period will receive a bonus code they can redeem to get any game from GOG.com’s illustrious Interplay product catalogue! Aww, poor little gamer didn’t sign up for info at GOG.com? Don’t cry, little buddy – the GOG.com Team is accepting new signups till Sunday, September 7, at Midnight (EDT). Anyone dying to get into the action should visit www.gog.com to sign up, and they’ll soon be on their way to gaming like it's 1995.

GameBanshee was quick to grab an interview with Tom Ohle from CD Projekt on their freshly-revealed Good Old Games.com service:

GB: There are already a few services (Steam, GameTap, etc.) that are similar in scope to Good Old Games. What sets your service apart? Why should gamers be excited about it?

Tom: The full package we offer, I think, makes GOG.com unique. We're offering the games really cheap, without copy protection, compatible with Vista and XP, and you don't have to install any software to get it all. Combined with our plans for community development -- a big forum section, user-submitted guides and screenshots, patches, mods, retrospective articles, game rankings and ratings, etc. -- I think we're giving people a pretty damn cool site. There's no reason we can't coexist with other digital distribution services -- everyone has something unique to offer. 

CD Projekt sent us a press release on a new digital download service they are backing, titled GOG.com (Good Old Games).  They promise DRM-free older titles that work with XP and Vista at $5.99 and $9.99...Fallout being one of the titles promised:

Time Travel Invented. GOG.com Brings Good Old Games to the Present

CD Projekt Announces DRM-Free Online Store for Classic PC Games

Warsaw, Poland – July 10, 2008. CD Projekt, best known in the Western world for its award-winning PC RPG, The Witcher, is proud to unveil its invention of time travel. The company sent several representatives to the past and they’ve returned with some amazing findings. Quick to capitalize on the incredible treasures of history, the company is pleased to reveal its newest project, GOG.com. The site, whose name is an acronym for Good Old Games, is a new games-on-demand platform that allows old fogies (and young fogies) to buy some of the best PC games of all time – many of which just can't be found in stores anymore – and play them on modern hardware, completely free of intrusive DRM. GOG.com is poised to become the center of the classic-games universe with a huge community section including forums, user reviews and ratings, as well as insightful commentary and editorials from some of the industry’s most beloved writers. A closed public beta of the site is scheduled for launch on August 1^st, and excited old-school gamers can sign up for more info and a chance to enter the beta by visiting GOG.com.

The site makes it tremendously easy for gamers to buy, download and install some of their all-time favorite PC games. The games will be sold for $5.99 or $9.99, are guaranteed to work on Windows Vista and Windows XP systems and are available to download as many times as needed. This is very nice, yes? The DRM-free games, low prices, the site’s ease-of-use and the community are some of the main features that make Good Old Games something more than just another digital distribution outlet.

GOG.com has already lined up agreements with such publishers as Interplay and Codemasters to make their games available on the site. Among the titles those companies are bringing to the site are in-demand classics like Fallout, Freespace 2, Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition and TOCA Race Driver 3. Negotiations are in progress with several other publishers, with the ultimate goal of GOG.com offering a comprehensive collection of classic PC games from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

“Our main goal is to create a user-friendly site with the best classic PC games for a price that might be considered impossible to achieve,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “The people behind GOG.com are gamers and we all know how difficult it is to find a lot of classic games. So we’ve started building a great games catalogue, gotten rid of the copy protection that gamers hate so much, optimized the games to work on modern operating systems, and made them cheap enough that piracy seems like a rip-off. It’s so easy to buy, download and install a game and then get deeply involved in the community; we’re very confident that gamers will absolutely love the site.”

Okay, so that part about inventing time travel was a lie. Sorry.

While not RPG-related, CD Projekt has announced the purchase of Metropolis Software, another Polish developer and creators of THEY and Inferno.  This news also comes with plans to split CD Projekt Red (The Witcher) into two teams, meaning they can work on three titles at once:

CD Projekt and Metropolis Software announced that they have signed an investment agreement, under which CD Projekt will become the majority owner of Metropolis Software. Combining the strengths of both companies is a very important step in realisation of CD Projekt’s strategy, which includes becoming a leading publisher delivering high-budget, ambitious and creative projects that ready to compete with the world’s biggest productions.

To date, CD Projekt has developed one title, the hit PC role-playing game, The Witcher. Fusing with Metropolis and dividing the CD Projekt RED team into two units, CD Projekt now has are three development teams working on new AAA game projects. [...]

CD Projekt Red has a number of openings at their Warsaw offices - including some Xbox 360 positions.  Is The Witcher heading the X360...?